Santa is watching!

We've been talking about Santa Claus a lot lately, mostly because Vera has been pushing our patience.  She chronically has a hard time listening, even after we ask calmly and politely 4-5 times.  We're also trying to work on the crying.  Daily, we have some sort of crying episode and dramatic production over things like eating breakfast, fixing her hair, putting on a coat, getting in the bath, getting out of the bath, getting dressed, going potty, washing hands, going to bed... I could go on...

She's also been awfully ornery too.  Here's what she's been up to...

Adam was gone one evening, and I walked in the living room to find this.  Not sure what she was trying to do.  I'm guessing she just couldn't resist the cords hanging within her reach.

One day this week as I picked Vera up from Patty's, she insisted on having her crayons from her diaper bag.  She was jabbering the whole way home.  I was extremely tired (from no sleep the night before) and not feeling the greatest, so I was glad she was content.   When I went to get her out of her car seat, I discovered why she was so content. 

The picture doesn't fully illustrate just how much crayon was all over the pants.  I didn't have the energy to be upset about it.  I just told her that it made me sad, that we only color on paper, and Santa is watching!

The only thing Vera wants for Christmas this year is this:

I have no idea how she knows who Ariel is, but anytime you ask her about Christmas, she's sure to tell you about how badly she wants Ariel.  We got a toy book in the mail about a month ago, and she spotted this inside.  I guess that's how she knows this thing exists.  The toy book was open to this page for several days straight, and it was a serious crisis when we "lost" Ariel in the book.  To me, it doesn't look that cool, but if that's what she really wants....   I remembered to snap this picture from the ad before recycling the toy book.  (Side note to our family:  Please don't run out and buy this for Vera for Christmas.  She's already sat on Santa's lap and told him all about it!)

Vera thinks, at this point, that she's entitled to Ariel.  We keep telling her that she needs to be a big girl everyday because Santa is always watching!!